The Chicago White Sox have found an ace to their pitching staff over the next three years. For a team that appears to be trying to make a run and contend against the American League Central Division powerhouses Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians, the White Sox signed starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel on Sunday to a three-year contract worth $55.5 million according to Katherine Acquavella of CBS Sports.
Keuchel joins his third Major League Baseball team. He spent his first seven seasons from 2012 to 2018 with the Houston Astros, and then last season with the Atlanta Braves. In 2019, Keuchel had a record of eight wins and eight losses with an earned run average of 3.75. In 112 2/3 innings pitched, Keuchel gave up 115 hits, 47 earned runs and 39 walks. He also had 91 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.37.
One area of concern for the White Sox is the fact that Keuchel has given up more hits than innings pitched in the last two years. In 2018 with the Astros, he gave up 211 hits, which led Major League Baseball. However, this statistic is a tad misleading because Keuchel also led the American League with 34 starts that season and 874 batters faced.
Twice while with the Astros, Keuchel was an all-star. In 2015, he won the Cy Young Award in the American League as he posted a record of 20 wins and eight losses, a career-high 216 strikeouts and an earned run average of 2.48.
Keuchel was also part of the Astros team that won the 2017 World Series. In the postseason that year, Keuchel was more productive against the Boston Red Sox in the American League Divisional Series and the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series than he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
In Chicago, Keuchel, a lefthander from Tulsa, Oklahoma, will lead a rotation that includes rising star Lucas Giolito and veteran Gio Gonzalez. Chicago was third in the American League Central last season with a record of 72 wins and 89 losses.
